Patch 5.2 - Increased Drop Rates in 5.0 LFR
It seems that the LFR drop rates will be increased for the current Patch 5.0 LFR content once Patch 5.2 is released.

Defense of the Alehouse
It appears that Defense of the Alehouse may be the DotA style battleground that is under development. It looks like many of the buildings are placeholders, so keep in mind this is still a very early preview.

It is unlikely this battleground will be in Patch 5.2, as the last official word was that it still needed new tech. Also, see the below tweet from Ghostcrawler that was in response to existing quiver models, but also applies to this preview.

Patch 5.2 - LFR Item Level Requirement

Originally Posted by Blizzard
(Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Just checked out the PTR, and there's an ilvl486 requirement to enter the new LFR.

Now, there's no new 5 mans to buff our ilvl, so for non-raiders... exactly how are we supposed to reach this without PvP when the current LFRs drop 476 and 483s? Am I missing something here? Do you expect non-raiders to spend months (to the point the raid after thunder king is released) getting valor to buy that gear for ilvl?

I know it's PTR, and it might just be inflated for testing purposes, but it seems a bit weird that you would place the ilvl requirement for the new raid above the ilvl of the gear that drops in the previous LFR.
I think you've hit the nail on the head by saying it's a PTR. That's the most important thing to remember. We'll do our best to keep you informed on where we end up with the item level for the Raid Finder when we can.

With some of the really unpopular changes being pushed from the PTR to the live realms, there's a feeling by several of us in the community that if we don't speak up (and speak up a lot) over things that we greatly dislike.... Then it'll go live.

We know it's the PTR, but realistically... I don't think we'd be having the level of conversation concerning it if it had even been 483. (A much more realistic number as this is the Ilevel for the current LFR drops.)

The other frustrating part is that several of the people saying this isn't a big deal don't seem to understand that the requirement works off an average. Not simply having one piece at that point. There seems to be a lack of understanding with how this system actually works.
Completely understood and we do want people to speak up about their experiences or thoughts as long as they remember to remain constructive, (which you have.) My post wasn't meant as a, "OK stop talking now." It was just meant as a way of conveying that it is still PTR and things could have the potential to change. Please feel free to continue to discuss though.

Blue Posts

Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment

Eye of the Black Prince Issue
There’s currently no way to obtain an additional Eye of the Black Prince, and we’re aware it can create a situation where people are deterred from wanting to upgrade their items. That’s not the intent, we want you to use it and enjoy the upgrade then and there, and so we’re looking into a way for players to obtain additional sockets similar to how you can purchase additional legendary gems. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

WoW City SizesBecause they are really just a representation. Having all the villages, towns etc their *proper* sizes would make them massive ingame.
Pretty much this. Massive in-game towns and cities can become tedious and annoying real fast in MMORPGs because of the increased travel distances they cause... you already spend a lot of time travelling around in WoW (and other games like it), so if everything from small towns to huge continents were redone so that everything has realistic proportion and size, you would need enormous amounts of time just to travel from place to place.

Towns and cities may look really awesome and have the perfect atmosphere if they are of realistic size in games (I personally know this from other MMORPGs I have played(Yes, I enjoyed playing them)), but it is annoying to be in them because you always have a lot of running to do even for the simplest tasks that are supposed to be quick... long runs between vendors, quest NPCs, banks, AHs, and other points of interest. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Blue Tweets

Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment

UI / AddonsCould a role selection (DPS etc), be implemented on the calendar when players sign up for events? Would make life easier!
Yes, we'd like to add that. (Source)

What exactly is your stance regarding that? There are a lot of addons that could vastly improve the glyph interface.
Philosophically, we have no problem with customization, just automation. Would like to allow former while protecting the latter. (Source)

Please stop being so restrictive about the Glyph/Talent UI. It's driving people nuts, I loathe the moment I have to change!
Philosophically, we don't want automating talent or glyph swaps. Once it's easy to reglyph every pull, players feel like they must. (Source)I'm sorry did you just say you use "bugs" to prevent reglyphing every pull? Or misunderstood Znuff's tweet?
I said we want to be very careful about the degree to which we let players automate talent or gylph swapping. (Source)improve the glyph interface? it's already wickedly easy to use and simple. some players and their addon addictions
Philosophically, we're okay with players changing the UI. We just want to protect against too much automation. (Source)

Ever thought about adding a UI feature/option that displayed character health as number & percentage, instead of either/or?
Yes, and you should be able to try it out in 5.2. (Source)

Hey who makes those icons for all the spells and abilities? I love those icon art!
The art team shares the work. Good icons are hard to do so it's amazing they can make so many. (Source)

can you guys improve the BM AH UI sometime down the road? I just lost 25k gold thinking i bid on a mount but it didn't.
Is it the "hot deals" button that throws people off? (Source)It's confusion between trying to bid on a short/ending and having your money automatically go to hot deal.
We can just have one bid button. I think that is in the works for 5.2. (Source)

Reputation / QuestingWhy are dungeon tabards a mistake? Alot of people WANT them back so that they are not forced into doing dalies.
Let me put it this way: What if dungeon tabards gave Honor, then you wouldn't have to PvP either? (Source)

Rep Tabards weren't a mistake, removing them was. They allowed multiple ways to get rep, which was great if you hate dailies.
Today, gear can come from dungeons, reps, raiding, PvP or crafting. (Source)
They allowed dungeons to give rep, valor and purples, making them the only real option. (Source)

Not sure if you're the guy, but 5.1 rep grind was great. It didn't feel like a grind. You wanted to progress the story.
We agree. It felt more reasonable. (Source)You should not send people into enemy hubs in PVE dailies. You should not put PVP objectives in a PVE zone
Why? (Source)

But endless rep grinding is an artificial way of trying to prolong an exp. It's not fun, it's boring busy-work
None of those reps are anything you absolutely must have, and by "endless" aren't we really talking about a few weeks? (Source)Not required? No profession recipes or valor gear if I don't. More than one character. Game shouldn't feel like a job.
I think you mean "I want to get ALL the recipes." You don't need e.g. Royal Satchel or Gloves of Creation. (Source)

Will we ever need the extra Sigils from the legendary questline once we've completed the quest? Or can we trash them safely?
Trash away (unless you're a compulsive packrat). (Source)

Like dailies now? They suck, but provided the most efficient way to grind Valor/rep unlike Mech there is no alternative
Raids, dungeons, scenarios and challenge modes offer a pretty good alternative for valor generation. How bad do you need the rep? (Source)

Ghostcrawler - Getting in to the Gaming Industry
Ghostcrawler's first longer than 140 character post in a few months was a reply to an eight year old that wants to get in to the gaming industry. He included some advice that was relevant to everyone!

I'm fairly certain ilvl will be at least 480 for the new LFR. Hitting 480 is easily done, especially if you are a casual player that engages in the various dailies and only LFR. You get 489 for basic rep rewards and the new KW dailies are throwing 496 at you. My warrior alt has done LFR a whopping 3 times (MSV), 2 times (HoF) and 4 times in TES and is already sporting 481 and hasn't hit Honored with Dominance yet. My rogue is at 482 with 6 weeks LFR, and my paladin at 479 with 5 weeks. I waited a little while before starting LFR, fearing what I heard that drops were rare in LFR and people never get gear and groups were many times horrible - of course I found out that most people were simply telling fibs, except that last part... players are still pretty bad.

In all honesty, given the level of player aptitude I've seen in TES on many fights, I think a good number of runs should be a prerequisite before allowing people to just herp the next tier of content, and this comes from having to run previous tiers waiting on drops. 472 was required for HoF/TES, so it's not unreasonable to ask casual players to gear up a bit more. Especially since there's so many easy ways to retain the gear now; Reps, LFR, Crafted pieces, BMAH, and even PvP T1 gear.

Posts like what GC did for the 8 year old kid really show he's a good guy. Idk why everyone hates on GC, he takes a lot of shit for nothing. He knows what he's doing, he wants what the players want, a good game.

I 100% agree.

The problem is it is so much easier to hate.

Also people see that they don't do the exact thing that they want and they go "OMG Blizzard is so full of broken promises and they never ever listen to the player base ever" even though just as many people where asking for what they did.

I'm fairly certain ilvl will be at least 480 for the new LFR. Hitting 480 is easily done, especially if you are a casual player that engages in the various dailies and only LFR. You get 489 for basic rep rewards and the new KW dailies are throwing 496 at you. My warrior alt has done LFR a whopping 3 times (MSV), 2 times (HoF) and 4 times in TES and is already sporting 481 and hasn't hit Honored with Dominance yet. My rogue is at 482 with 6 weeks LFR, and my paladin at 479 with 5 weeks. I waited a little while before starting LFR, fearing what I heard that drops were rare in LFR and people never get gear and groups were many times horrible - of course I found out that most people were simply telling fibs, except that last part... players are still pretty bad.

In all honesty, given the level of player aptitude I've seen in TES on many fights, I think a good number of runs should be a prerequisite before allowing people to just herp the next tier of content, and this comes from having to run previous tiers waiting on drops. 472 was required for HoF/TES, so it's not unreasonable to ask casual players to gear up a bit more. Especially since there's so many easy ways to retain the gear now; Reps, LFR, Crafted pieces, BMAH, and even PvP T1 gear.

Random is random. Its obvious that the goal from BLizzard this expansion is to "make it a journey" where journey means you have to stay subbed and do certain things every week to progress. How this will work when new players will come in mid expansion - and ppl with their alts as well still buying 489 gear for 1000 valor per week ... is still not clear.

Its a new system and Blizzard have shown so far that they have been unable to support their new systems in resonable way in past 2 expansions when it comes to LFG or LFR. They obviously had some goals with these new systems but forgot that players determine how these systems work ... not developer ideas.

The part about the journey tho.. It has to be intresting enough to work for 2 years. Cause we know next expansion is 2 years away. So far no WOW expansion has been able to keep the journey going that long. And it seems grinding and extra gated content is the only way Blizzards see this as possible instead of making good and fun game to play.

I have done them..... and there is no real story in the 5.1 dailies.
August celestials is just fighting some dudes to train...... gl, i don't see any story going there also... at some point you get the weapons of the thunderking, but how that is linked to the dailies before that, beats me.
Klaxxi, just a lot of killing..... untill exalted... no progress in any story.

The 5.2 ones, yeah there I have a sense of some progression.

Except the ones you're talking about are the 5.0 dailies. And even those had a little bit of story that you obviously failed to read (seriously? No progress in the story with the Klaxxi?).
But the 5.1 ones were definitely better in storytelling, and that blue response seems to indicate they want the next sets of dailies to follow more the 5.1 model than the 5.0.

Really? That's what is making everything right in the World of Warcraft? But RNG is still RNG. In week 2 people will be complaining that all of their dreams didnt come true in week one. I'm willing to bet we see no less that 10 "I didn't notice a difference in LFR" after the first week.

Really? That's what is making everything right in the World of Warcraft? But RNG is still RNG. In week 2 people will be complaining that all of their dreams didnt come true in week one. I'm willing to bet we see no less that 10 "I didn't notice a difference in LFR" after the first week.

Of course. But it's nothing new. People have talked shit about the game for 8 years. Why would they stop now?

Yes, but now bads can put it in their LFR weapon, and later when they buy the normal or real version, they can gem it too.

Who's the baddie? 'cause I think you're it. You just showed by your post that you have NO idea how to play this game properly without being carried.
Hows this you say? Because your post either A)shows you don't know what your talking about before posting and being a douche, or B) You advocate NOT gemming and enchanting your weapon while you work on heroic modes...and we all know only baddies don't bother to gem and enchant.

Lets talk about a high end progression raid group.
As a progression raid group, before you go working on heroic modes, you still have to clear on normal. So what happens when your Sha-Touched normal weapon drops? Are you going to NOT gem and enchant it while you work on heroics until you get your heroic version? That's what this hotfix was designed to resolve, the ability for players to gem and enchant the CURRENT version of their weapon without worrying that they CAN'T gem and enchant their upgraded (heroic) version later.

So either you are saying that you should raid heroic bosses without enchants or gems, or you're just opening your mouth to say something, anything, regardless of comprehension of the way the game works.
Well, that determines it, YOU are actually the "baddie".